A few months ago our 14 year old son asked for a texting plan on his phone. I know. He’s 14! Some of his friends have been texting since 4th grade or before. When he asked last year, we said “no, if you want to talk to your friends, pick up the phone and talk.” We explained the importance of verbal communication and how its very existence is being threatened in this digital age. There is the very real fear that the obsession with texting will become a life threatening activity when he is in a vehicle. We further expressed our concern about texting being another distraction from the important commitments in his life like family, school work, piano, sports, hobbies and real life and face to face social interaction.

So a year has passed since the initial denial of texting privileges and I am happy to report that he is a happy, athletic, well read, social, honor roll student. He earned a basic texting plan and uses it wisely. We now see the benefit in this quick, easy form of communication-as a supplement to real life communication.

So, at the same time we added a texting plan to our son’s account, we added a plan to mine. Having exceeded my basic plan by double on the first month, I was immediately upgraded to unlimited!

My name is Leslie and I am a textaholic.

This morning my addiction took me to a new low. In an effort to communicate privately with my husband, without being overheard or interrupted by a child, I texted him. He was sitting 6 feet from me. I’m truly not sure if that makes me really clever or really pathetic.

My son and I spent the better part of Friday evening laughing ‘til we cried at ‘auto correct’ texting fails. If you are looking for a laugh, check it out! http://damnyouautocorrect.com/ .